Hermione has been in a bad state since receiving the letter from Albert. Even though she has decided to send her family away from England in a short time, she still can't calm herself down completely when she learns that her family may be in trouble.
There's no need to take that risk.
As for the plan to spend the Christmas holidays with family, Hermione directly cancelled it. The fact that Albert wrote to her meant that he was really in trouble.
As for the so-called involvement in the letter, she was still confused, but Hermione believed that Albert would not and had no need to joke about such things.
So, after receiving the letter, I made a decision without much thought and replied to Albert.
When Hermione met Albert in Professor McGonagall's office, she found that Albert had already arranged everything for her. Her request for leave went smoothly. Professor McGonagall approved it without asking the reason for the request.
"I thought you needed to think about it a little longer."
Albert was very happy that Hermione could make a decision in a short time. Although this was also within his expectations, he still hoped to solve the problem as soon as possible. After all, Hermione's family was implicated by him. Once something went wrong, not only would the mission reward be gone, but his relationship with Hermione would also probably be in trouble. It would definitely do no harm to maintain a good relationship.
"What's going on?" Hermione finally couldn't help but ask the question in her heart.
"You should know that the mysterious man kidnapped Cassandra and asked her to tell fortunes for me, and the content of the divination may affect you and your family." Albert looked at the somewhat nervous Hermione and said calmly.
"Cassandra?" Hermione repeated. She also knew that Cassandra was kidnapped by a mysterious man. The mysterious man asked her to predict Albert's fortune. Hermione was not surprised, but how could it happen to affect her and her family
"Last time, you asked me for help in the stands of the stadium. This is the cause and effect." He explained to Hermione helplessly.
It's really frustrating to encounter such a thing.
"This...how do you know?" Hermione asked again.
"I suspect she may have divined the time and place of my appearance, or predicted the date of my death." Albert said softly, "We found Cassandra's body, and found that she left us a secret code on the body. After deciphering the code, one of the clues pointed to December 27, and you just mentioned that matter again."
This time, Hermione finally understood!
Since she had just decided to send her family off after the Christmas holidays, it was no wonder that Albert had some associations when he saw that time point.
"So, I plan to advance the time to avoid this danger." Albert briefly explained the reason for the advance. "It is easy and difficult to avoid the predicted result, but there is a way."
"What are you going to do next?" Hermione wanted to hear Albert's advice.
"In short, you have to stay vigilant, and decide the whole process in advance." Albert was very happy that Hermione asked him directly for a solution. "It would be best to modify their memories directly and let them immigrate to the UK immediately."
"I was going to do that, but..." Hermione was worried that it might not be that simple.
"This matter is indeed because of me that it affected you. I will help you deal with it. After the war is over, I will accompany you to find them and remove their magic." Albert comforted: "Don't worry, this war will not last too long, so don't worry, what you are doing now is just to protect their safety."
"In fact, I sent my family away from the UK a long time ago, and they successfully avoided a lot of trouble."
Hermione knew that Albert had probably misunderstood, but she was very satisfied with Albert's arrangement. After all, he had tried his best to help. So she asked, "How should we get back? Apparate or take the train?"
"Apparate, I've asked Dobby to scout the location for us. It will take us directly to the park near your home."
After Albert took Hermione out of Professor McGonagall's office, they came to an unused classroom where the house-elf Dobby was already waiting for them.
"Are we going now, sir?" Dobby asked sharply.
"Yes, let's go now. Sorry to bother you this time."
"It is Dobby's honor to serve Mr. Anderson," the house-elf said excitedly.
Hermione looked at Dobby the house elf and asked, "Dobby, how have you been?"
"Very good. Mr. Anderson's friends all like Dobby very much."
Albert pulled out his wand from his robe pocket, tapped Hermione's shoulder, used the Disillusionment Charm on her, and asked, "Is this your first time using Apparition?"
"Yes, any questions?" Hermione asked with her head tilted, obviously not understanding why Albert asked this question.
"It may not be comfortable the first time, so hold on to my arm tight." Albert stretched out his left hand towards the house-elf, and when the two hands were clasped together, the two house-elves disappeared directly in the classroom.
When they reappeared, they were already in the park near Hermione's house. Several young children around were startled by the sudden crackling sound, but Albert had immediately pulled out his wand to erase their memories, not even giving them any time to react.
"Don't worry, they didn't see us, they just heard the sound of Apparition, and their memories have been erased, so there won't be any problems." Albert said casually as he looked at the backs of the children leaving, "This is the benefit of using the Disillusionment Charm."
Seeing that Hermione didn't answer, Albert looked sideways and found that Hermione hadn't recovered yet, so he asked, "Are you okay?"
"Not so good. I feel like I'm being squeezed out of a tube. It's a terrible feeling." Hermione looked pale, and she seemed to be having trouble adapting to Apparition. She was obviously unable to overcome the terrible feeling brought about by her first Apparition. It took her a few minutes to recover.
"Apparition works like this. I used to do this too. You may not be used to it at first, but once you get used to it, you will find that Apparition is quite useful." Albert took out a salty candy and handed it to Hermione, saying, "Eat this, you may feel better."
"Thanks."
Hermione also hoped that her future boyfriend would be as considerate as Albert.
"You need to get used to it. If you need it, I can show you how to Apparate a few times after this happens. I believe that with your talent, you will be able to get used to it quickly. This was also the case with Fred, George, and Lee Jordan."
"Thank you. I'll trouble you then." Hermione did not refuse. She knew very well that mastering Apparition was very important.
However, she knew better what to do now.
"Let's go." Hermione tilted her head and asked, "Do you know where my home is?"
"I don't know. I'm afraid I need you to show me the way." Albert made a gesture of invitation.
"Come with me!"
Hermione smiled and led the way. Along the way, the two walked and talked. Hermione seemed to remember something and suddenly asked, "Did Dobby send Cedric directly to Hogwarts?"
"Yes, this is faster, safer and more covert." Albert nodded and admitted, "But remember to keep this a secret and don't let anyone else know."
Hermione nodded and listened to Albert continue to reveal the news she was curious about.
"Although Apparition is prohibited in Hogwarts, the magic of house-elves is different from that of wizards, so it is not affected." Albert said softly, "This is actually a small loophole, but many people don't think of it. If they knew about it, I guess many people would take advantage of it."
"There shouldn't be many families with house-elves!" Hermione asked doubtfully.
"Not much, but not a few either. Sometimes, you only see the surface." Albert reminded, "The magic world cares more about bloodline than you believe. If they were in the past, they would be equivalent to aristocrats among Muggles. There were many wealthy pure-blood wizards, so they value bloodline more than you expected, especially in the power center like the Ministry of Magic. Basically, it is difficult for those who are not pure-blood to sit in a high position."
"What about you?" Hermione asked with a deep frown, "I heard you became a member of the Wizengamot."
"That's because I have a wide enough network of contacts, a strong enough fist, and strong enough strength to defeat all those who get in the way, and trample their so-called fallacy that pure-bloods are the best." Albert said the shocking words calmly: "So, those pure-bloods are so hostile to me, and there is a reason why the mysterious man wants to kill me so much. However, you don't need to be too pessimistic, your luck is actually not bad."
"Good luck."
Hermione was a little stunned. She really couldn't understand why people could say they were lucky when they encountered such a bad thing as the Wizarding War.
"As long as we can win this wizard war, the arrogance of the pure-bloods will be severely damaged, and the situation where the pure-bloods control the power of the Ministry of Magic will be greatly alleviated." Albert looked at Hermione's stunned expression and explained calmly: "You don't think this is because of the You-Know-Who. This war is actually a conflict between pure-bloods and Muggle wizards, but the You-Know-Who is so conspicuous that he covered up everything. Of course, you can also think that this is a war provoked by the You-Know-Who, but you can't just look at one side of many things. You need to have a deeper understanding of its essence, otherwise you will have difficulty moving forward even if you enter the Ministry of Magic in the future."
This is also the reason why Kingsley, after becoming minister, has been committed to repealing laws that support pure blood and working to eliminate discrimination on both sides of the bloodline.
Hermione opened her mouth slightly. She didn't expect to hear such shocking news from Albert. She didn't think Albert would lie to her, but there were some things she couldn't understand and couldn't think deeply about the reasons.
"Don't think about it now, you'll know later."
When the two of them arrived near Hermione's house, Albert suddenly stopped, reached into his pocket and took out his detection pocket watch, which actually responded.
Hermione was also staring at her detection pocket watch, holding her wand tightly in one hand, looking very nervous.
There was no doubt that the presence of a dark wizard here was not a good sign.
This almost means that Albert's worries are correct. The mysterious man is likely to have targeted Hermione's family, intending to use them as bait, waiting for the big fish to take the bait.
"Your family should be fine. If the mysterious person wants to use them as a trap, at least he needs to make sure they are alive." Albert swept his eyes across the street and quickly searched for the whereabouts of the wizard who was responsible for monitoring the block through the detection pocket watch.
"You wait here now, I will go and deal with the enemy."
After saying that, Albert made a gesture to Hermione and moved forward alone.
After a while, Albert passed through the wall silently and knocked down the dark wizard who was hiding under the Disillusionment Charm and was responsible for monitoring Hermione's house from behind.
Only after making sure the surroundings were safe did Albert ask the patronus to notify Hermione.
"Solved?"
Hermione was somewhat surprised at Albert's efficiency.
After making sure it was safe, she went home immediately, but was shocked to find that no one was home.
This made Hermione's blood run cold, and countless bad possibilities emerged in her mind. If her family was taken away by the mysterious man, it would be almost impossible to rescue them.
"Don't worry, maybe your family just went to work." Albert patted Hermione's shoulder gently to comfort her. "After all, it's working hours now. You can't expect them to stay at home and not work, right?"
"Oh, you're right." Hermione was indeed a little panicked, but still felt that what Albert said made sense, and planned to go find her family.
"Don't worry, let me look through the guy's memory first." Albert pointed to a nearby house and said, "It will be helpful for our next move to understand the specific situation first."
After returning to the house across the street, Albert used Legilimency on the dark wizard he had knocked down.
"They're fine." Albert took back his wand and said, "This guy is in charge of surveillance and doesn't know much."
"Legitimate is a terrible magic," Hermione muttered. "You can see right through me, too."
Last time, when Harry was practicing Occlumency, Hermione had read similar books and understood what kind of magic Legilimency was.
"No, I can only tell whether you are lying." Albert shook his head. "Of course, if I look directly into your eyes, I can also see through part of your thoughts, but there are actually very few wizards who can do this."
Hermione quickly looked away.
"It's not that difficult actually. You need some talent and help from others!" Albert directly said the question in Hermione's mind. "Of course, mastering it also has something to do with a person's personality."
"Can you teach me? I mean, Occlumency, if you have time." Hermione asked tentatively.
"That is definitely not a pleasant process. I think Potter should have mentioned this to you." Albert glanced at Hermione and said, "Someone reads your memory, and then you try to resist, and slowly master the brain block technique in the process, but this also means that many of your secrets will be known to others, which is definitely not a pleasant thing."
"Well, we should go now. I already know where your family is."